Tag Archives: Ogeechee River

Hell Gate is a shortcut channel near the confluence of the Big Ogeechee River and Little Ogeechee River that was cut by the Army Corps of Engineers to accommodate the convenient movement of vessels in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. At low tide, the channel is dangerously low and even experienced boaters can have problems navigating if not careful.

The sign pictured above, in the parking area, illustrates the method of towing a barge in the canal.

The Savannah-Ogeechee Canal is a national landmark of early engineering located on the edge of Savannah. The 16.5-mile canal, conceived by turnpike owner Ebenezer Jenckes, was constructed by slave laborers and Irish immigrants between 1826-1830 to expedite transportation of cotton, lumber, and other valuable market products from the Ogeechee River to port at Savannah. It also served as a means of moving consumer items from Savannah to the state’s interior. DeWitt Clinton, Jr., son of the New York governor associated with the Erie Canal, was the first chief engineer. In 1827, he abruptly left the project, likely due to investors’ refusal to incorporate a feeder canal. His assistant, Edward Hall Gill, briefly assumed engineering duties, but was replaced in 1828 by Loring Olmstead Reynolds.

The Savannah-Ogeechee Canal (originally known as the Savannah-Ogeechee-Altamaha Canal) was the first and most ambitious of three built in Georgia during the Canal Era and is the only one retaining significant structural components today. Plans to connect it to the Altamaha and eventually the Flint and Chattahoochee were never realized.It was beset with problems from the beginning and at least three local newspapers dubbed it “the Folly”. In 1826, Peter McIntyre, a local subcontractor, paid the passage for one hundred Irish laborers to work on the project. They worked for about a month but by December began to riot. McIntyre and another subcontractor, Eze Baldwin, absconded with their payroll, leaving the workers “in deep distress” and a “state approaching starvation.” They were aided by members of the local Hibernian Society before returning to Ireland or dispersing elsewhere. Such unexpected labor disputes lead to cost overruns and heavy debt. Nonetheles, work on the canal was completed by December 1830.

By 1836, the canal was bankrupt, and sold at a sherrif’s sale. Investor iterest in canals had been replaced by the promise of railroads. The new owners set out to improve it, replacing wooden locks with more substantial brick locks, and the canal began to turn a profit, albeit not the margin expected. Portions of all the locks survive, some nearly in their entirety. Five of the locks also featured a keeper’s house.

In the days leading up to the capture of Savannah in 1864, Union and Confederate troops were encamped near the canal and were involved in several skirmishes. Damage was done to the canal but by 1866, it was operational once again. In 1876, Captain Charles Sheftall lead weekly excursions along the canal that included music, dancing, dining, and other reccreational activities. Heavy rains in June 1876 did serious damage to the canal. A yellow fever epidemic that followed claimed over a thousand lives and officials blamed the canal’s stagnant waters, overflowing banks, and inadequate drainage.

After years of losing business to the railroads, the canal was purchased by the Central of Georgia in 1888 and officially ceased operation.

The walking trail begins at Lock No. 5 (Young’s Lock).

Much of the 1.6-mile trail follows the historic towpath.

A heavy stone bearing associated hardware bears the date of 1830, the year the canal was officially opened.

Lock No. 6 is located at the point where the canal meets the Ogeechee River.

Details of the architecture are visible from the south side.

The bricks were made on site.

This important resource is an amazing survivor and its accessibility as a public recreation area is the result of the work of the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Society, who oversee the property and offer interpretive background.

The boardwalk follows the shoreline of the Ogeechee and offers great views of this historic river.

Located near the mouth of the Ogeechee River in Bryan County, Fort McAllister was a Confederate earthwork fortification. Named for Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Longworth McAllister, who owned the plantation at Genesis Point where the fort was sited in 1861, it provided Savannah’s southern defense against the U. S. Navy. During 1862 and 1863, Fort McAllister successfully repelled seven attacks by Union warships, including the ironclads USS Montauk and USS Passaic. Fort McAllister’s commanding officer, Major John Gallie, was killed in one of the assaults.

Though the fort never fell to the Union Navy, the land assault of 13 December 1864 marked the end of Confederate control and thus the end of Sherman’s March to the Sea. The General himself observed the taking of Fort McAllister from atop the rice mill of the captured Cheves plantation, across the Ogeechee River. It served for the remainder of the war as a prison camp for Confederates captured along the northern part of the Georgia coast.

After many years of disrepair and natural reclamation, Henry Ford, who owned the property at the time, funded a complete restoration in the late 1930s. Today, it’s one of the best-preserved earthworks of the Confederacy and features a museum and hiking trails.

The four images above look more like prehistoric Indian mounds than a stronghold of the Confederacy, but the earthen construction of Fort McAllister was largely responsible for its ability to successfully repel so many attacks by the Union Navy. Known as the central bombproof, this area in the middle of the fortification housed soldiers, provided medical care, and prepped and maintained the many canons and munitions necessary to the defense of the site.

The “hot shot” furnace (above) was used to heat canon balls to fire on attacking wooden vessels. Several sizes of these powerful guns were used in the defense of the fort

In 1863 the CSS Rattlesnake (formerly known as the CSS Nashville) took refuge in the Ogeechee River. After being grounded in mud during low tide, the Rattlesnake took heavy fire from Union naval vessels and was completely destroyed. Sections of the wreck were salvaged in 1960, including the engine component seen above.